TALLULAH, Louisiana — Authorities say an Alabama truck driver was killed when he was hit by a state trooper's vehicle while he was walking along a dark rural highway in northeast Louisiana.

Louisiana State Police say the incident happened just after midnight Tuesday and is under investigation. The man killed was 47-year-old David P. Watford of Cottonwood, Alabama.

Police say in a news release that officers responded to a call about an abandoned tractor-trailer being parked in a lane of U.S. Highway 65 about 6 miles north of Tallulah. A state trooper and Madison Parish sheriff's deputies were searching for the trucker when he was struck by a State Police SUV.

Louisiana State Police say Watford was wearing blue jeans and a camouflage shirt and was in an area with little lighting.